(Not) Brunel's Bristol 

One of the best videos on Bristol, I've ever seen. A few of us more 'enlightened' old Bristolians have watched for decades as Brunel has been levitated unto sainthood. Knowing full well his input was less than stellar. Bristol has the potential to lead the way with a modern electric tram system, and the ongoing farce with the Bristol to Portishead railway line is practically criminal! Sadly BCC is a backward, dull witted and idiotic council, always has been, and most likely always will be.

I swallowed the Brunel legend from childhood, and spent my formative years in Bristol. Now, at a more mature time of life, I'm grateful for your informative and balanced videos. keep 'em coming!

Pleased to see this. Many years ago I followed the Brunel rhetoric but later began to question it; aided perhaps by noticing the former pub directly outside Brunel's original Temple Meads Station called the Reckless Engineer. The Box Tunnel stands out for me. The death toll during its construction was horrendous, even by the standard of the day. Also, considering the GWR was known as Brunel's billiard table, the tunnel was by comparison, a ski slope, perpetuating the theory that it may have been a vanity project to immortalise his own birthday, albeit a slightly misaligned one. The Royal Albert Bridge (Tamar) seems unnecessarily complex given that the Brittania and Conwy tubular bridges by R Stephenson/W Fairbain were already proven, particularly when the railway it connected to had to be scaled back to a ramshackle affair of wooden viaducts to reduce costs. Then there was the atmosheric debacle in South Devon. Another thing that puzzles me is what the Clifton Suspension Bridge was actually supposed to be for. It seems to link Clifton to the middle of nowhere. As seen in the Totterdown video, the main routes south and east are some distance away and the river level crossings are far from an inconvenient distance. It's probably become more useful since the opening of the M5. Appreciate the content. Only found you a couple of days ago.

The cycle path/bus lane "falling in the river" makes me giggle every time. It's just so incongruous and there's something almost Douglas Adams-like about your phrasing and exasperation.

Thanks for this video. It was really enjoyable and gave a lot of useful context for history.

"potassium is the prettiest molecule" :D good work sir!

Overall a good video, despite seeming overly negative in places. You overlooked that Brunel's original station was in use until 1965. It was successfully used for terminating trains primary from the Midland Railway and stopping services from places such as the Avonmouth Branch, which now used the bay platform adjacent to the Brunel station. It was closed when railways were generally in decline, and still serves a purpose today as a car park perfectly situated for the station.

Three years ago or so I did some guided open bus tours of the engineering history of Bristol as part of Bristol Open Doors and I went to great lengths to mention Jessop and his role in the creation of the Docks. Glad to see someone else making his place in history more visible as well!

I'm so pleased you've posted another video - I don't live in Brizzle but do visit from time to time and enjoy exploring the city from a different angle through your footage. Thank you

I may be moving to Bristol at some point in the next 6 months so I have binge watched your videos. Really well done and I like learning about the history and architecture of Bristol, hope you keep it up! :)

The problem with the “Great Man Theory” that’s commonly seen in pop-history (less so actual history these days) is that the men in question are usually nowhere as great or as accomplished as their reputation suggests, and people like Brunel get credited for all kinds of things they only had a minor hand in because that makes for a better story, historical accuracy be damned.

As a former Bristolian .. it's great to hear another Brizzle doing what we do best. Having a good old moan.

Thank you so much for this great video - having recently moved to Bristol , i really appreciate all of your research, it's very interesting 😀

Great video, keep em coming

Excellent video - thank you

Really informative string of videos, thank you. I’ve learnt a lot from each one I’ve seen. Please though watch your pronunciation of Avon (“A vun”. Not “aVON” , that’s a cosmetics company!). Please keep up the good work.

I was fully expecting you to mention Darwin, but you swerved to James Clerk Maxwell. Well played!

Great stuff. I thought I was the only one that was sceptical about Brunel's hero status in Bristol!

27:40 👍👍A double thumbs up for you final swipe at Bristol’s pathetic transport policy.

AND .... Another example of Bristol City Councils arrogance was their decision not to create a bus station right next to Temple Meads station when they had the opportunity which would have made the system a truly integrated travel system - Honestly, Bristols council have a lot to answer for ...... And the corruption caries on to this very day!

I love a good bit of anti-hagiography!

What a fantastic video

Enjoyed this, and others. Sir George White? Made the trams run, and started the Bristol Aeroplane co. Oh yes, and the Demerara(l) Patersons misfortune.

Despite being a brilliant engineer, Brunel was notorious for cost overruns. I wonder how he would have got on with Crossrail or HS2? 🤔

Most execellent. I like to see history told properly. Thank You.

This has gone on everywhere and still does: who invented the steam engine: Stephenson of course ,Light bulb:Edison etc Generals in war that made a contribution are another batch . Its all part of our re writing history to sell to gullible public and push a narrative. Having said that Brunel was a visionary and pushed the boundaries , he did know how to get a good team behind him and convince the Lords of the land to give in to his projects. He wasn't a bad designer too . The GWR have always benefited from the broad gauge experiment ( a bit ahead of its time as it is needed now), as it has allowed the gangers space in between lines when working on maintenance.Another advantage to broad gauge was when a train came off the tracks they tended to stay upright.

Still sad that the extension to the Brunel Shed at Temple Meads has been dropped from reactivation. Would have been great to have terminating trains use that part of the station.

all of these were built by the workers, not the architects and investors

Great video, thanks very much! My own little Brunel hobbyhorse is that Marc Isambard Brunel (confusingly known as Isambard during his lifetime, and now mostly referred to as Marc to avoid confusion with Isambard Brunel Junior) is massively under-appreciated. Both he and his wife-to-be Sophia Kingdom had very narrow escapes from the French Revolution - pretty sure his life story would make a good TV mini-series drama!

Have you/ can you do a video on temple church please?

The man is a legend

The hagiography in engineering is off the scale, railways are among the worst for it. Just look at how Gresley is inflated into something far more than he was when so many revolutionary things really had origins outside of his head and were suggested or best understood by people under him. Other people involved in work carried out under him then had their character assassinated in literature written about the period of his time at the top and immediately afterwards. Got so nasty it was even written that no one attended his successors funeral. It's kinda crazy how far some will go to build legend around their hero and how much we people will lap it up for whatever reason, national pride needing a figure head, a specific business needing that legend of the founder or saviour... We never really learn, look at Musk today... or Gates, or Bezos.

Maintain current infrastructure? Undertake modern civil engineering that would help transport in the city? Hell no, that's not the Bristol way! Let's instead waste our money on vanity projects which typically make everything worse. Much better.

23:29 hmm, it’s moving. I know it’s a suspension bridge, but to see it actually wobbling is a bit disconcerting.

You have to admit that his name has something: Isambard Kingdom Brunel - the Kingdom part sounds biblical although its origin is prosaic.

Still a good guy though I think!! 🤔

Et tu Brutus?

April fool

Marketing people and other bean counters have been ruining the work of engineers for many years. Good critique.

What's this nonsense about Churchill and Brunel being Britain's greatest people? Everyone knows that Thomas Paine is the greatest ever Britain.